A deputy dead, a dramatic chase

Experts back his colleague’s actions to stop suspect fleeing on a motorcycle on 210.

- By RICHARD WINTON, HANNAH FRY AND CLARA HARTER

OnScene.TV

A TELEVISED chase ended in Claremont with the shooting suspect being thrown from his motorcycle.

As the motorcyclist reached speeds of nearly 150 miles an hour, tailed by a phalanx of police cars on the 210 Freeway, he was putting distance between himself and the home where, according to authorities, he had just shot and killed a sheriff's deputy.

With viewers watching on live television Monday afternoon, he easily evaded a motorcycle officer who tried to stop him. He appeared to lift both hands off the handlebars as he pulled the slide back on a gun.

His attempt at a quick escape ended when he plowed into a gray Toyota Camry, flipping over the front of his bike and launching at least 10 feet in the air.

It quickly emerged that the driver of the Camry was a San Bernardino County narcotics deputy who was off duty when the pursuit started, went back on duty and deliberately swerved into the motorcyclist, later identified as 47-year-old Angelo Jose Saldivar.

Saldivar was captured by television cameras sitting up on the pavement before being airlifted to a hospital, where he was in stable condition Tuesday. He is expected to be charged in the coming days in the death of San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Nunez, 28, who had worked for the department for six years and leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter and a pregnant wife.